Jonathan Becher is one of the most tech savvy corporate CMOs today; one listen to my first conversation with him, and that much will be crystal clear.

And like me, he's a firm believer that distinction between B2B and B2C marketing are now non-existent – and that now more than ever, B2B marketers had better wake up that fact and start marketing to business audiences the way, say, Coca-Cola and others market to consumers.

In this GEN WOW guest post, Becher explores the power of marketing intel in achieving blockbuster business results.

Turbocharting Business Results through Marketing Insights

When apparel retailer Gap releases a new clothing design, marketing
analysts look to a key customer segment as an early indicator of the
product’s popularity: the people who work in its stores. “Our employees
are also our target audience, so we know quickly by those first-day
employee purchases if we have a hit on our hands,” said Seth Farbman,
Gap’s global CMO. Based on those early results, marketing can rapidly
adjust promotional campaigns or merchandising can change the mix of
inventory in stores to accommodate anticipated demand. “The data is
irrefutable because it’s real,” says Farbman.

The constant flow of information across a business has created an
opportunity to increase the pace of decision making, to observe and
react in the moment – just like humans do. Marketers are looking beyond
examining historical data to predict the future. Instead, they are
turbocharging the analysis of real-time data from a variety of sources,
including social media and website activity, to deliver personalized
in-the-moment engagement, promotions, and, ultimately, sales.

Capitalizing on insights is one of five key responsibilities
that marketers must embrace to transform the marketing function into a
strategic business driver. Here are four key foundational elements you
will need to put in place to capture – and act on – insights in real
time:

Plan for spontaneity. The foundation for Oreo’s seemingly spontaneous ‘Dunk in the Dark’ tweet during the blackout at this year’s Super Bowl was laid well in advance. Parent company Mondelez created 78 dashboards to capture social media conversations
about the Super Bowl and the Mondelez brands that were advertising on
the broadcast. Shortly after the power went out at the Superdome,
analysts noticed the chatter on Twitter and Facebook had shifted to the
blackout. Within minutes, Oreo’s digital agency had created a snappy
post, which generated 15,000 retweets on Twitter and 5,500 shares on
Facebook.

Accelerate your analytics. Real-time
marketing requires real-time decision making, not just big data.
Businesses are looking for ways to reduce the time between collecting
the data and acting upon it. Procter & Gamble, for example, has
invested in a “visually immersive” data environment, called Business Sphere, which delivers constant streams of business intelligence
to employees around the globe. Ask yourself whether you’re focusing on
warehousing your data or capitalizing on the insights it contains.

Curate content, not just collateral. Research from technology publisher IDG
found that IT professionals typically consume five pieces of content,
created by or on behalf of the vendor, before they speak with a sales
representative. But those pieces of content can’t be the same; they must
match the buyers’ needs at a given moment. For example, someone who
posts a query on a community site about cloud technology will likely
balk at an immediate sales pitch – but appreciate a link to a blog post
that talks about overall trends and best practices. Early-stage content
builds credibility – and possibly an opportunity to engage more directly
down the road.

Know your customer before they are your customer.
Customers have more choice than ever before, are better informed than
ever before, and their opinions count more than ever before. Customers
spend 50% of their time researching online and 70% of their decision
making is complete before they speak to a sales person. If you are
waiting for them to walk in your store or meet with a sales rep, you are
too late. To make matters worse, 80% of customers have reversed a
purchase decision based on a negative review. Imagine the impact a
company can make on its bottom line if it understands the customer and
start creating an experience for them earlier in the cycle.

Are you still marketing based on last month’s reports or are you ready for real-time? I look forward to your comments.

Join Jonathan and other senior agency- and client-side marketers to talk about this topic and more at our new GEN WOW LINKEDIN GROUP.